The leader of a drug ring has been jailed along with six associates after 210kg of high purity heroin was found hidden in tables in Greater Manchester last year.
Fikri Yarasir, known as Mario because of his resemblance to the Nintendo videogame character, given a 25-year sentence for smuggling the largest haul of heroin Greater Manchester police has intercepted.
Forensic tests proved the drugs were of such high purity that they would yield a street value of about £63m.
Yarasir, 53, of Glossop on the edge of the Peak District, was under surveillance in August when he met a lorry with Turkish number plates and led it to an industrial unit in Salford.
Undercover officers watched as he met Ahmet Taskin, 45, also from Glossop, who helped him move the cargo of furniture into the unit. While it was unattended, officers entered the unit and found 42 tables, inside which were hidden bags containing heroin.
On the same day, officers entered a lockup in Rhyl, Wales, where they discovered equipment set up for a “bash house” – where drugs can be diluted with other substances to increase value – including a hydraulic press for compressing drugs.
Detectives worked out that proceeds from the deal had been directed through a company run by Brian Kennedy, 37, from Fife. The firm, Freight Forward, had only one customer: Fikri “Mario” Yarasir. Kennedy was jailed for 18 years on Monday.
A number of other gang members were also jailed, including Kathryn Fearon, 34, and her partner, Paul Livesey, 46, from Openshaw in Manchester. They were given sentences of nine and 15 years respectively on Monday.
The couple were used as mules to transport money to Turkey, taking large amounts of cash with them and returning to the UK with significantly lighter luggage.
Officers worked out that the missing weight was the cash they were spending, which totalled aabout £372,500, all on behalf of Yarasir.
Taskin was the only person to plead guilty at the earliest possible time, and was sentenced to 13 and a half years for importing class A drugs. The rest of the group denied the charges, which led to a seven-week trial.
Steven Hindley, 28, from Kinmel Bay in Rhyl, who hired the lockup, was sentenced to 15 years for conspiracy to supply class A drugs, along with David Mulligan, 27.
During the trial, Yarasir claimed he was only involved with his fellow defendants to gain intelligence and become a police informant.
The jury did not believe him, having heard Yarasir had served 10 years in prison in Germany in 1997 for importing heroin from Turkey.
